Geno Menchetti, Shahri Masters and Sherine Kuckhoff were honored earlier this month by a local chapter of IBI Global for their roles as mentors in the community.

"It's an entrepreneur group of leaders in business, the arts and the professions," said Kim Soteros.

Soteros, who now lives in Reno after 17 years on the North Shore, said the group is about strong leaders teaching others to build their careers through cooperation rather than competition.

She said all three honored recently have helped her move from her job as bookkeeper to a more rewarding position.

"While the mentors were honored, the real honorees are those who can take it - the little bit of what we can give - and grow with it," Menchetti said. "The credit goes to them."

"These are people with vision," Soteros said. "It's part of the paradigm shift that's affecting corporate America now."

She said many people are becoming disillusioned with the corporate world and are leaving to start their own business ventures.

Founder of the company, B.J. Dohrmann, attended the recognition evening at the North Tahoe Conference Center in Kings Beach.

"They saw in me what I didn't see in myself," Soteros said.

Shahri Masters said it's second nature for her to help people find their path.

"Kim and I connected when we both were ripe for listening," she said. "From my point of view, she took the message and made it happen."

Masters said they mentored each other.

"She was stagnating, and I was one of the people who kind of kicked her in the butt - out of love and friendship," she said. "It was not a formal mentorship from my point of view. If I'd known it at the time, I might have been a little afraid."

Masters has clearly enjoyed their relationship and the mentoring process.

"She has grown and changed so much ... she followed through," she said. "She gives me credit because she heard the message through me."

Masters describes herself as the messenger, but she said she considers the process more spiritual.

The recognition was "very neat," she said. "I was flattered and humbled."

Messages are all around us, and people do not always hear them and if they do, they do not always choose to respond positively to them, according to Masters.

"Kim is successful and happy now," she said.

Both women believe in having coaches to help guide them into the decisions that will help them become more successful and happy.

"I have a formal coach ... and I have to do what he says," Masters said.

Everyone has different areas of strength, and people need to recognize they need help and to be OK with that, Masters said.

Soteros credits Menchetti with modeling the collaborate spirit for many years.

"He brought the Shakespeare Festival here," she said. "And at Christmas, instead of a gift exchange we chose to get gifts for three needy families."

Sherine Kuckhoff with Bratt Realty has an attitude that empowers others, Soteros said.

"She has helped many people, not just me, and she advocates that people become as powerful as they can be," she said.

Both Masters and Kuckhoff have helped change people's perception of real estate agents, Soteros said.

Nearly 50 people attended the recognition, although Kuckhoff and Menchetti were unable to be present.

"This is a heartfelt business," Soteros said.

IBI Global is a for-profit business, but not at the local level, she said. Groups can raise money to go to training sessions in Los Angeles, however.

It's about networkng and masterminding - local people discussing challenges and resolving them in a synergistic fashion - Soteros said.

"The concept is about giving and receiving," she said.